The Allahabad High Court on Thursday stayed a three-month jail sentence given to Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh in a case about a protest in 2001, Live Law reported. The High Court said that on a preliminary reading, the trial court’s verdict was “perverse”.
The case pertains to a protest held in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur on June 19, 2001, under the leadership of former Samajwadi Party MLA Anoop Sanda against poor electricity supply.
Singh had participated in it along with former councillors Kamal Srivastava, Vijay Kumar, Santosh and Subhash Chaudhary. Subsequently, a case of unlawful assembly and wrongful restraint was registered against the six persons at the Kotwali Nagar police station.
On January 11, 2023, all of them were convicted by Special Magistrate Yogesh Yadav and sentenced to three-month imprisonment. On August 9, the six of them were ordered to appear before the MP/MLA court of Special Magistrate Shubham Verma.
On August 13, a non-bailable warrant was issued against them after they failed to appear before it and a hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, which they skipped once again. Following this, the court directed the police to arrest all six after taking strong objection to them skipping the hearing.
Singh had moved the High Court with a petition seeking his acquittal in the matter, Live Law reported.
On Thursday, Justice Karunesh Singh Pawar said that on a preliminary reading, there was not enough evidence to justify invoking the provisions on unlawful assembly and wrongful restraint.
Singh’s counsel SC Mishra told the court that neither the complainant nor a key witness had mentioned his client as one of those who allegedly obstructed a road during the protest in 2001.
The High Court stayed the AAP MP’s sentence and ordered him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000.
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